Irvine Loudon (1 August 1924 – 7 January 2015) was a British doctor and a medical historian on childbirth fever and

maternal mortality Maternal death or maternal mortality is defined in slightly different ways by several different health organizations. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines maternal death as the death of a pregnant mother due to complications related to p ...

Biography

Loudon was born in Cardiff on 1 August 1924. His father, Andrew Walker Buist Loudon was a

general practitioner A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...

who had served in the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...

and his mother was Sarah Margaret Black (Morag), née Lees, who was a trained midwife. He attended Llandaff Cathedral School and

Dauntsey's School Dauntsey's School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school, boarding and day school) for pupils aged 11–18 in the village of West Lavington, Wiltshire, England. T ...

before serving in the RAF during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After the war, he studied medicine at

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

, graduating in 1951. He settled down as general practitioner in

Wantage Wantage () is a historic market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England. Although within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Berkshire, it has been a ...

, where he also acted as a medical historian Loudon's time as a medical historian was focused on childbirth fever and

. His published writings included studies of the history of medicine, with a special interest in the history of general practice and maternal death in childbirth. His oil paintings, drawings and etchings were shown at several galleries: Bankside Gallery London, UK and Dolphin Gallery, Wantage, UK, Branson Art Gallery, Rosedale, Lake Balsam, Ontario, Canada.Richard Swain, The Work of Irvine Loudon, in The Guardian Angel, p 17-18, 2016 . In 1948 he married Jean Norman, daughter of a university professor and they had five children together. He received a fellowship from the

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...

, and was made an honorary fellow of Green College. Loudon suffered from vascular dementia in his later years and died on 7 January 2015 at Wantage Community Hospital.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loudon, Irvine 1924 births 2015 deaths British medical historians 20th-century British medical doctors 20th-century British artists Medical doctors from Cardiff Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Deaths from vascular dementia